H1N1 Fears Spur OJ Sales Boom

With the H1N1 virus spreading across the country, Americans are turning to a classic home remedy, Vitamin C—specifically orange juice. And the orange juice market, which had been hurting, is seeing some seriously positive effects. The Wall Street Journal reports that the frozen, concentrated orange juice contract at ICE Futures U.S., the global soft commodity futures and options exchange, has risen 22 percent since September. “I bet that 30 percent to 40 percent of the increase in sales that we’ve seen in orange juice can be attributed to health concerns,” said James Cordier, analyst and founder of Optionsellers.com in Tampa, Florida. All this in a season when the orange crop is suffering the negative effects of last winter’s cold snaps followed by a drought, which resulted in a 16 percent decrease in orange production from last season.